Kingdom Hearts: False Heart
by Kyouningyou
Summary: In the aftermath of Pein's attack on Konoha, strange shadow-like creatures engulf the village. The only survivor awakens the next day with no memory of who he is or what has just taken place. He is then found by and accepted into Organization XIII. yaoi
1. Chapter I: Ichiru

**Chapter I – Ichiru**

It must have been the bright, shining sun that woke him. As soon as he opened his eyes, he snapped them shut quickly, due to the stinging that came with the white light shining directly in them. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, blinking away the sunspots.

As the greenish, purplish spots cleared he noticed he dusty, barren ground he lay on. Piles of rock and rubble lay in heaps in the landscape. Signs stuck out of some of the piles, reading off the names of stores or restaurants. Most of the rubble was scattered so it was impossible to sort through and tell what each jigsaw originally formed.

After only a few moments he grew bored with eyeing the destroyed scenery and decided to walk off in some random direction. Common sense told him that it was a bad idea to wander off when he didn't even know where he was, but he decided soon enough that he really didn't care; he didn't know if anyone would be looking for him or not.

All at once it occurred to him that he didn't even know who he was. He didn't know his name, or where he was from or how he'd gotten there. He didn't even know what his own face looked like. And with this newfound knowledge he knew he should have been scared or worried, but he wasn't. He was… bored maybe? No, not that exactly. He just didn't care.

Deciding there was no point in making a big deal of it, the nameless boy decided to continue exploring the ruins of the as of yet nameless town; after all, there was always the chance of running into another person who could tell him who he was.

So he wandered the remains for a few hours, but came across no one. Apparently he was the sole survivor of whatever attack had destroyed this place. He found it strange, though, that there was no blood or carcasses, nothing to prove that the old inhabitants had indeed died. But the buildings looked too freshly destroyed to have been abandoned long ago. Did the inhabitants manage to evacuate before the destruction hit?

A sudden growl of his stomach told him that it was time to eat. Without consciously deciding he changed direction sharply and let his feet take him where they wanted. He supposed that his subconscious was telling him where he normally got food from.

He walked for a while only to come across another destroyed building. The sign was cracked in half and lay forlorn on the dusty ground. The only part of it that could be read was 'Ichir-'. The word meant nothing to him, and there was no way he could eat here, so he continued to wander.

* * *

That night, when he fell asleep, he dreamt. His dream wasn't normal – at least, he didn't think it was. He was someone else. He had another voice, another body, and whatever that other, strange person thought or felt, he thought or felt. Flashes of days spent alone in a hot, dusty apartment pouring over difficult looking scrolls alone or pranking people he felt had wronged him played before his eyes. In some, short instances he felt amused, even happy. But for the most part, he only felt pain. He woke up, with tears streaming down his face.

* * *

The next day, he decided he wanted a name.

It was a rather simple, insignificant desire, seeing as there was no one to address him as anything anyway, but he figured he might as well refer to himself as being someone rather than no one. Besides, someone may come eventually and if that happened then he might be required to give a name.

After a few minutes of pondering he realized he had no idea what he should call himself. A few ideas flashed through his head, but he didn't like any of them. They didn't seem to have any significance. Don't people generally receive names with some sort of meaning behind them? He decided to look around at the scenery for some inspiration.

Outside the ring of dust and debris that made up the ruins a huge forest expanded seemingly forever. Should his name be Kimura? No, it didn't seem to fit.

Nearby a small bird pecked at the ground. Should his name be Kotori? No, that didn't seem to fit either. He didn't think he was like a bird.

Above the landscape and the trees a pure blue sky shone brightly, with only a few clouds to break the monotony. Should his name be Sora? That didn't seem right either, for whatever reason.

Hm, nothing seemed to fit. He thought back to yesterday, and briefly remembered the sign he'd seen lying on the ground. Ichi- Ichiru? Was that what it had said? Hm, it seemed almost to fit. Ichiru; number one. Well, he was the only one inhabitant in this place.

So from then on, he would be Ichiru.

* * *

It was almost week before Ichiru received his visitors. They didn't arrive in the conventional way. Rather, they appeared out from a swirling purple vortex that had opened up right in front of him. Ichiru wasn't afraid, but he did know that whatever came out of that vortex could be potentially dangerous, and he didn't want to die.

By the time the two mysterious figures had come through Ichiru had already ducked behind a destroyed building.

"Man, this place looks totaled," one voice said. It was decidedly male, and sounded rather lax. The other was distinctly female.

"This place is boring," the girl yawned, "It would have at least been a little more interesting if we could have watched."

Ichiru tried to stay still, but curiosity got the better of him and he peeked around the building to sneak a peek at the cloaked figures. The first one, the male, was rather wild looking with his mane of long, spiky red hair. His eyes were narrow and serious looking, but had a playful sparkle in them. There were tiny markings under each of his eyes, but from where Ichiru was hiding he couldn't see them very well.

The other one wore the same black cloak that the redhead did. Her blonde hair was slicked back, except for two 'antennae'–like strands. Her eyes were piercing blue and held a gleam of cruelty; Ichiru decided he was right when he chose to hide. Suddenly one of them turned and Ichiru ducked back behind the stone wall, hoping he hadn't been seen. He started to become anxious as he heard footsteps coming toward him. The redhead rounded the corner and stared at him.

"Hey, Larxene! Come here!"

"What is it?"

"I found a kid here!"

"Eh, really?"

The girl, Larxene, rounded the corner also and stared at Ichiru. "Hey, he's kind of cute!"

Ichiru wasn't anxious anymore, just…confused. The strange gleam in the girl- Larxene's eyes was still there, but she was acting rather strange. The man, meanwhile, had a rather nostalgic glimmer behind his eyes.

"Who are you?" Ichiru asked, despite knowing that good manners dictate you give your own name first. Neither of the strange characters minded.

"Well, he's not a zombie at least. I'm Axel. A-X-E-L. And that's Larxene," Axel paused and motioned to the blonde girl. "Got it memorized?"

"And what might your name be?" Larxene asked, batting her eyes flirtatiously. Axel pretended to gag.

"…I've been calling myself Ichiru," Ichiru answered.

Axel raised an eyebrow. He turned away from the boy, who was still sitting on the ground, and took a look at the scenery. Destroyed town, but no bodies.

"Hey kid, was this place was attacked by a lot of monsters with black heart markings on them?"

Ichiru tilted his head to the side. "I don't know. I don't remember anything before waking up here a couple of weeks ago. This place was already destroyed then."

Axel noted this fact with great interest. He had known since first looking at this kid what he was. If what Ichiru said was true he'd be the only one besides him to have been born with no memories of his other self.

"Well, Axel, what should we do?" Larxene asked after Axel stayed silent for a few moments.

"We'll take him back to the castle. The Superior will decide what to do with him."

Ichiru began to feel nervous again. "The superior?"

"Don't worry," Axel told him. "You'll be fine. Superior will most likely offer you a place in the organization. You've got nowhere else to go anyway, right?"

Ichiru realized that this Axel person was making a lot of sense, but he wanted to know what this organization was before he got himself mixed up in anything crazy.

"What kind of organization is it?"

Axel pressed his lips in a fine line and turned to Larxene. She shrugged and pretended to inspect her nails, despite the fact that she was wearing black leather gloves.

"Look kid," Axel started, "We're what you call Nobodies. Capital 'N'. We're beings without hearts. We lost our hearts when creatures called Heartless destroyed our worlds and ate our hearts."

Ichiru's eyes widened in shock. Is that what had happened to this place? He opened his mouth to say something but Axel raised a gloved hand, silencing him.

"Now, I can't say for sure that that's what happened to your home, but that's the most likely scenario."

"And, I'm-"

"A Nobody, just like us," Larxene finished for him.

A Nobody. Those words rang through Ichiru's mind. He raised two fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse. There was nothing.

"Organization XIII," Axel continued, "Is made up of a group of us Nobodies who are trying to get our hearts back. If you join us then you can become whole again. So whaddya say?"

Ichiru didn't think twice. He said yes.

* * *

The Author's Note

So, what did you think? This isn't my first fanfiction, but it is the first I've posted. I'm not going to ask you to go easy on me. In fact, be as brutal as you want. I just want to hear your opinion.

I have several more chapters already typed up, but I won't be posting them for a while. I want to hear your opinions on this one first. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update.


	2. Chapter II: Organization XIII

Chapter II – Organization Thirteen

Ichiru had been a little reluctant to go into the corridor of darkness at first, but once the two elder Nobodies coaxed him in he realized that it wasn't so bad. It looked scary, but that's all there was to it. No weird side-effects or disorientation. Basically, it was no different than walking down a regular corridor except for the fact that it took you between worlds.

They took him directly into the Castle That Never was. It took Ichiru a few minutes to get the strange title. After all, they were people who weren't supposed to exist in a world that wasn't supposed to exist. According to Axel they _didn't_ exist.

The portal took them to what Ichiru supposed was the main lobby. There were two other people already there, wearing the same uniforms as Larxene and Axel. One man had long, light brown hair and an icy demeanor. The other had bright pink hair – the sight of it filled Ichiru with a sense of déjà vu – and laughed with a light, feminine sounding voice, although Ichiru was quite sure that it was a man.

The two looked up from their conversation as the corridor of darkness opened. They were surprised to see a young boy step out along with Larxene and Axel.

"What is this?" the brown-haired one asked as he eyed the boy. Blonde hair, blue eyes, flawless peach skin; he could almost have been Roxas's brother, had Roxas still been around.

"This is a Nobody we found at the sight. Cute, huh?" Larxene said, draping herself over Ichiru's shoulders. "Calls himself Ichiru. He can't remember what it was like before he was a Nobody."

Ichiru shrugged Larxene off of his shoulders before properly looking at the two men in front of him. The brown-haired one's eyes were widened in what looked like a mix of surprise and curiosity and he was eyeing Ichiru in a somewhat unnerving way. The other had a slight smile playing at his lips and looked dangerous in a slightly different way than Larxene did.

"Pleased to meet you," the pinkette said, extending his hand to Ichiru. "My name is Marluxia."

Ichiru eyed his hand for a moment, as if wondering what to do, before taking it and allowing Marluxia to shake his hand roughly.

Vexen, the brown-haired man, only gave his name in a curt fashion before sauntering off to do who-knows-what.

"Well, shall we introduce you to the Superior then?" Marluxia asked pleasantly, though Ichiru felt a shiver go up his spine.

"We were just on our way to do that," Axel said, putting his hand on Ichiru's shoulder. Ichiru winced slightly as Axel's fingernails dug into his shoulder, but the redhead didn't notice.

"All right then," Marluxia said, flipping his long hair over his shoulder. "See you later." He said the last part more to Ichiru than to Larxene or Axel. Axel scowled at the pinkette as he turned and left. Ichiru noticed.

"I guess you two… don't like each other?" he asked.

"Axel and Marluxia have been in a snit ever since an incident where Marluxia tried to overthrow the organization," Larxene explained. "Axel pretended to be in on it and busted Marluxia."

"As I recall, you were helping him," Axel said. Larxene stuck out her tongue at him. "Anyway, the both of us don't need to report to Superior. Why don't you go torture a cat or something?"

Larxene looked from Axel to Ichiru and back again before sighing to herself. "Damn, if I knew you had a thing for blondes I would've fought a lot harder."

Before Axel could tell her to fuck off or Ichiru could ask what she meant she was gone; quite probably to do exactly what Axel had suggested.

Axel took Ichiru roughly by the wrist and began to drag him towards the Superior's office. As they walked along they passed a few windows and Ichiru couldn't help but marvel at the surreal scenery out the window, especially when the heart-shaped moon came into view.

Finally Axel had reached the office door, a slightly dazed Ichiru behind him.

"Now listen," Axel warned, "You shouldn't be in any danger, but Superior is very strict and very strong, so try not to get on his bad side. You don't seem like the type to go and do that, but I don't want to take any chances."

Up close Ichiru could see the tiny, diamond shaped marks under each of Axel's eyes. He was all too ready to comply with Axel's order. So far he had met four Organization members and three of them made him feel… very uncomfortable; Larxene the sadist, Vexen the modern-day Jekyll, and Marluxia the potential pedophile.

Axel knocked on the door, resulting in a loud echo throughout the halls. A deep voice within told them to come in. Axel opened the door and the two Nobodies stepped inside. Vexen was already inside, talking to yet another black-cloaked man.

He was very tall, taller than Axel, and had long, silvery-blue hair draped about his shoulders. There was a small, x-shaped scar in between his eyes that made his piercing glare look all the more frightening. He was heavily muscled, and that, along with his other features, made Ichiru think of a wolf.

"I'll take my leave then," Vexen said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. He stepped briskly out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him, leaving Axel and Ichiru to the scar-faced man. Ichiru felt infinitesimally small under the man's piercing gaze. He wanted to reach to Axel for comfort, but knew that doing so would be inappropriate when facing the leader.

"Saix, this is Ichiru," Axel introduced. "Larxene and I found him in a town that had been destroyed by Heartless."

"Ah, the one without any memory of being human," Saix said. His voice matched his appearance. "Find a cloak that fits him. He will take the number XIII. Then test his power. That is all."

"Yes sir," Axel said, bowing respectfully. Unsure if he should do the same, Ichiru started to mimic Axel, only to be grabbed by the wrist and dragged out of the room again.

They were mostly quiet as they walked. Axel led him down a different corridor this time, allowing Ichiru only one small glimpse of the heart-shaped moon again before he pulled more towards the interior of the castle.

"Hey, Axel," Ichiru started after a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"Was that him? The Superior? He was kind of intimidating, but he didn't seem as bad as you made him sound."

Axel laughed, confusing Ichiru. Axel stopped, turned around, and said, "Look kid, that wasn't the Superior. That was Saix, the second-in-command. The Superior is Xemnas. X-E-M-N-A-S. Got it memorized?"

Ichiru nodded. As they started walking again Ichiru wondered if he should expect to be hearing that phrase from Axel often.

The hall that Axel led Ichiru to had a total of thirteen doors. Axel told him that they were where the Organization members slept, with the exception of the Superior. Ichiru asked what the thirteenth door was for if Xemnas didn't use it.

"Well, there used to be another member. The Superior created the room for them when they joined. I don't know why he hasn't gotten rid of it since we don't need it anymore. I really hate how confusing he is sometimes," Axel explained.

"Then why do you work for him?" Ichiru asked.

"Same reason he bothers to work with us. Because we need each other to get what we want. He's our best bet to finding Kingdom Hearts and getting our hearts back."

"Kingdom Hearts?"

"I'll explain more later."

Axel led Ichiru to a room with the roman numeral XIII carved into the door. He opened it and went inside, beckoning Ichiru to follow. The room was clean and comfortable, and white. Very white. There was one bed, neatly made, a bookshelf, with many leather-bound volumes with shimmering gold letters on their spines, a window through which Ichiru could see the city below and the heart-shaped moon, as well as a desk and chair, probably there to keep the room from feeling too empty.

Axel opened a door, which turned out to be a closet, and pulled out a black robe, identical to his own, save for the sleeves, which were bell-shaped where Axel's were tight at the wrists, and the fact that it was smaller than the elder Nobody's.

"This should probably fit you," Axel said, more to himself than Ichiru. "You're about the same size as him."

"Him?" Ichiru asked, becoming confused. Axel ignored him and tossed the cloak at him, still on its hanger.

"Change into that. Don't worry about the underclothes for now; they don't really matter since you can't see them anyway. After this we'll have a spar and try to figure out your element."

Ichiru opened his mouth to ask what he meant, but remembering how Axel disregarded his last two questions he decided to wait to find out what he meant. He pulled on the cloak over the clothes he was already wearing – a plain black t-shirt and, oddly enough, a pair of orange pants rolled up above his ankles – and turned to Axel to go.

"You can take that off too," Axel said, pointing at Ichiru. "Personally I think it makes you look ridiculous."

It took Ichiru a few seconds to realize that Axel was pointing at his forehead. He reached up and touched it, feeling his fingertips come into contact with cool metal. He felt the back of his head and undid a knot, pulling the strange thing off of his head. He looked at the object, realizing that it was a black headband with a metal plate attached to it. A leaf-like symbol was engraved into it.

"Now that's better. You look much better with out it, don't you think?" Axel said jokingly. Ichiru almost pointed out that he didn't know what he looked like at all. Ichiru left the headband on the bed and followed Axel out of the room. The headband didn't bring back any memories.

* * *

As soon as Ichiru stepped out into the corridor Axel opened up the Corridor of Darkness and stepped through. Ichiru followed. The portal took them to a wide, open room. That was a slight understatement. The room was HUGE! Ichiru bet that all thirteen members of the organization plus the Superior could have stood in the room, arms stretched, fingertip to fingertip and not touched either of the walls. Looking up he saw a glass ceiling through which his beloved heart-shaped moon could be seen.

"This is one of the rooms we use to spar," Axel explained. "There's plenty of room so we don't have to worry about busting through walls or anything. C'mon."

Ichiru did as Axel said and followed him to the center of the room. He noticed on the ground was a strange symbol; what looked like an upside-down heart that was splintered where it should have tapered to a point.

"Now, each of us Nobodies has a certain element that we control. For me it's fire. Larxene has lightning, and Vexen controls ice."

"What about Saix?"

"The moon."

This confused Ichiru. "The moon's not an element."

"When I said element, I meant central symbols around which we center our magic. While there are four of us who can control water, wind, earth and fire, our powers aren't limited to those and our magic has nothing to do with obscure myths or alchemy or whatever," Axel explained.

"That sounds a bit obscure itself," Ichiru commented. Axel smirked.

"All right, let's see if we can get you to summon a weapon. Each of us is able to summon a certain weapon through which we can channel our power, though we don't always choose to do so. Like this." The elder Nobody held out each of his hands and in a burst of flame two identical, red chakrams appeared in each hand. He grasped them tightly and took a battle pose.

"So how do I do it?" Ichiru asked, earning a smirk from Axel.

"From here on we go by instinct."

Before Ichiru even had time to process Axel's words the redhead threw both chakrams, now blazing with intense fire, straight at him. He dodged, leaping straight up into the air at a height he didn't know he could reach, back flipping and landing shakily several feet back as the chakrams flew back into the hands of their master.

Axel didn't give Ichiru much time to recover before he threw the chakrams again. Ichiru attempted to run out of the way rather than jumping; leaping to that height without meaning to had been rather disorienting. Suddenly a pillar of flame erupted in front of him. Ichiru screeched to a halt, feeling the entire front of his body heat up at the close proximity to the flames. Instantly he changed directions and was off again before the chakrams could skewer him. Another column of fire rose in his path and again he averted directions, avoiding both the flames and the chakrams.

Ichiru swore in his head. He eyed Axel through the walls of flame that were now rising up all over the room. The red head was smirking and not even breaking a sweat! Just standing there watching as Ichiru dodged the weapons and flames. If only he had a weapon of his own… If he didn't figure out how to summon one soon he would be skewered and barbequed!

Suddenly columns of fire rose up on three sides, and Ichiru's only escape route was being blocked by Axel, now holding both of his chakrams.

"Better think of something other than running or dodging real quick, cause otherwise you're screwed," Axel said, giving a sadistic smirk.

Ichiru scowled as his eyes franticly swept across the room, looking for some form of escape. Left: fire. Right: fire. Front: psychopath with pointy chakrams.

At that moment Ichiru thought 'Argh! Screw it all!' and charged straight forward. If he was fast enough, maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to avoid the chakrams and take down Axel directly.

Axel almost laughed when Ichiru charged towards him.

'He's got guts, I'll give him that,' the pyro thought as he readied his weapons which were now ignited and burning brightly.

"Your funeral," Axel taunted out loud. He threw each of his chakrams. They spun in the air and flew right at the blonde but Ichiru stayed on his course. At this point, Axel started to become nervous. Time seemed to have slowed down and the chakrams zoomed towards the boy inch by inch.

Even though he didn't have a heart, Ichiru knew that if he did it would be pounding in his ears right now. Sweat dripped down his forehead; whether from anxiety or the intense heat he didn't know. A tingling sensation ripped through his body as he approached the redhead. He noticed Axel seem to freeze momentarily, though he didn't know or care why. His hands closed on metal as he neared the redhead, forgetting about the chakrams that seemed to have for some reason disappeared. He raised his weapon and slammed into Axel, pinning him to the ground with his legs on either sides of the redhead's waist, and weapon held to the man's throat.

Axel stared, stunned at the panting blonde. Had he just… The boy was holding him down with a giant key! A keyblade if he wasn't mistaken. He suddenly noticed the position they were in and smirked.

"Well aren't you the feisty one," Axel teased. Ichiru stared at him blankly, before noticing himself and turning as red as Axel's hair.

"G-gomenasai!" the blonde stuttered as he started to pull himself off of Axel. As he did, however, Axel's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist, shocking the teen.

"Nothing to be sorry about. In fact, I kinda like it," Axel teased.

Ichiru's face, if possible, turned even redder. His mouth twisted into a frown and he slammed the keyblade – as hard as he could, I might add – across Axel's face before running off.

"What'd I do?" Axel muttered, mostly to himself, as he heard Ichiru slam the door.

* * *

"I really was only joking you know."

"Hn."

It was almost an hour later and Ichiru still wasn't done giving Axel the silent treatment. After training, Axel had reported the results of their training to Saix and then taken the blonde back to his room. Ichiru hadn't said a word other than an occasional 'hn' and only looked at him to give him an icy stare.

"Geez, you don't have to take it so seriously," Axel complained. "You're worse than-"

Axel's statement was cut off by a soft knock to the door. The redhead got up to answer it while Ichiru momentarily wondered why he had even allowed Axel to follow him into his room.

Larxene was at the door when Axel answered. She looked shocked, at first, to see it was Axel who had answered the door, but her bewildered look quickly morphed into a sly smirk.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Hint hint, wink wink.

"What do you want?" Axel asked dryly.

"Superior wants to see Ichiru. Right now," Larxene told him.

"Right, I'll tell him." Axel then proceeded to slam the door in Larxene's face. Turning to Ichiru, he said, "Well, you heard her; time to meet the Superior."

Ichiru felt his breath catch in his throat. He remembered the behemoth Saix. The blue-haired man was definitely frightening, and there was no doubt that Xemnas would be much worse.

"C'mon, let's go," Axel said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him up from the bed. "Xemnas is waiting."

Xemnas is waiting. Oh, how that sounded like a death sentence.

* * *

AN: I didn't get as many reviews as I'd hoped for in the last chapter, but oh well. Maybe I'll have more luck this time. I think out of the chapters I have written so far, this is the longest. If anyone, anyone at all, likes this story, pleeeeeeeease review! Or even if you just want to yell at me for being the worst author ever! Just let me know that you see this!


	3. Chapter III: Roxunta

**Chapter III - Roxunta**

The doors leading to Xemnas's office looked bigger and more intimidating on Ichiru's second visit. That was probably because Axel was not standing right next to him this time. Slowly Ichiru raised his hand and softly rapped the door. A deep voice – not Saix's – beckoned him in.

When he opened the door he saw Saix there, standing next to the desk, eyeing him. Ichiru didn't like that he couldn't tell what the man was thinking. Sitting at the desk, also eyeing Ichiru was a dark-skinned man, wearing the same organization robe as the others. He had long, white hair that was cut in two layers. The shorter layer was swept straight back while the long one hung down to his waist. His eyes were the strangest gold color that Ichiru had ever seen – excusing the lack of memory – but unlike Saix's, they weren't piercing or fierce or intimidating in any way. They were rather… void. In a way, Ichiru felt calmed by seeing Xemnas.

But that emptiness also put him on edge. He didn't once take his eyes off of Xemnas, even as the Superior motioned for him to sit down.

"Naruto," the oldest Nobody said, once Ichiru was seated comfortably, earning confusion from the blonde.

"No, I'm-"

"You will now undergo the naming ceremony," Xemnas continued as if Ichiru hadn't spoken. "You will receive your Nobody name, as well as your organization title. Are you ready?"

Ichiru nodded, not knowing what else to do.

Xemnas held out his hand and six shimmering gold letters appeared in the air in front of him. Of course, to Ichiru the appeared backwards, but he could already guess what the spelled. The letters began to whirl in the air as if spun in a miniature tornado. Slowly, they came to a stop, and a seventh letter – a large X, more brilliant and beautiful than the other letters – appeared in the middle of the word.

"Roxunta," Xemnas said, reading the new word. The letters faded and his gold eyes locked with Ichiru's – now Roxunta's – sapphire ones. "That will be your new name. Number XIII, the Key of Dreams. You are dismissed.

* * *

Axel was still in Ichiru's - Roxunta's - room when the blonde returned. Roxunta was too lost in thought to remember having been angry with him.

"What did he want?" Axel asked, though he didn't seem particularly interested; he was lying on Roxunta's bed leafing through a magazine that Roxunta was sure he never wanted to see.

"He gave me a new name," Roxunta answered, though it seemed more like he was thinking aloud. "I'm 'Roxunta' now."

Axel looked away from the magazine. "Oh?"

Roxunta was quiet for a moment before he actually looked at Axel and said, "When Superior saw me, he called me 'Naruto'."

Axel didn't seem surprised. "That very well could've been your real name." Roxunta opened his mouth to say something but Axel cut him off. "Yeah, Superior's creepy like that. Guessed my name without me telling him too. Xemnas has all sorts of little secrets that no one knows about. After a while you just learn to accept that and not worry about it so much."

"Oh." Roxunta looked away from Axel and stared at the ceiling. The thing with Xemnas was still bothering him a little, but he decided that it was best to do as Axel said and forget about it. After all, worrying about it wouldn't do him any good. Still, he made a note to remember the name 'Naruto'. He wanted to know more about his life as a human.

"I'm bored," Axel said, unexpectedly breaking the silence and snapping Roxunta out of his thoughts. "Hey, want me to show you around? Maybe meet the other members? It's better than just sitting here the rest of the day."

Roxunta thought about it for a second and nodded. Axel smiled, jumped up, grabbed Roxunta roughly by the arm and ran out of the room.

* * *

"And that's Vexen's lab. It used to be in his room but Superior had him move it down there because it stinks up everybody's rooms…"

"Hm." Roxunta stifled a yawn. Personally, he didn't find Axel's tour any more entertaining than sitting in the room, but he forced himself to memorize locations anyway. Along with the training room and a dining hall there were several rooms he knew he would want to be able to find later as well as many he would want to avoid. Vexen's lab probably fell under the second category.

"And up ahead," Axel continued, shoving open a pair of large, ornate doors, "is the Round Room."

Roxunta stared mutely at the sight before him. There before him was a large, circular throne room, with fourteen thrones, each raised to varying heights, on the wall. One, much higher than all of the others, had a large I over it, clearly belonging to Xemnas. After that they went in order from II, III, IX, and so on until XIV.

"This is where we hold meetings," Axel explained. "The height of the throne corresponds to the number of missions completed. When you've completed a mission successfully, the level increases. When you fail a mission, it decreases. Since you're new, you'll start out at the very bottom."

"But the thirteenth throne is already raised," Roxunta pointed out. True enough; the throne was raised almost halfway up the wall.

"That's left over from the previous Number XIII. It'll probably be reset before you start any missions."

"What happened to the previous Number XIII?"

Axel's body seemed to tense and that normal playful sparkle in his eyes died down. Roxunta realized he'd just asked the wrong question.

"Sorry," he mumbled, eyes traveling to the floor, but Axel didn't seem to notice.

Roxunta looked around the room once more before he became aware of the small rumbles coming from his stomach. Roxunta opened his mouth to ask where the kitchen was, only to be cut off by another, much louder growl.

"Ha, sounds like you're hungry," Axel laughed, causing Roxunta's face to turn a lovely shade of pink. "Follow me; I know where we can get something good to eat." Saying that he opened the corridor of darkness and stepped through, leaving it open for the blonde to follow.

"M'kay," Roxunta mumbled, even knowing that Axel couldn't hear him on the other side of the portal. He followed through the portal, and just before it closed be briefly wondered why Axel seemed to dodge most of his questions.

The corridor of darkness opened on top of a clock tower that overlooked a place Axel called Traverse Town. Axel left Roxunta almost immediately after arrival, telling him to wait while he went off to get something. Roxunta made himself comfortable, sitting down with his legs hanging over the edge of the tower, and did just as Axel said.

The wait wasn't long. Soon enough Axel was back with two light blue popsicles. He handed one to Roxunta and made himself comfortable next to the younger Nobody before helping himself to his.

"What is it?" Roxunta asked after staring at the blue thing in his hand for a few seconds.

"It's sea-salt ice-cream. Try it, it's good."

Roxunta stared at the popsicle for a few seconds later before slowly bringing it to his mouth and dragging his tongue across the tip. It was salty, but sweet. Very good, he decided.

"Like it?" Axel asked after the popsicle finally made its way into Roxunta's mouth.

"Yeah, it's really good," Roxunta replied. Axel looked pleased to hear that. "Axel, do you come here often?"

Axel looked a little surprised at the question at first, but he turned to face the scenery and answered, "I used to, a long time ago, but there hasn't really been anyone to come with in a while."

"Why not ask one of the other members?"

Axel shrugged. "They're not really into this stuff. They're more 'carnage and destruction'. Except Demyx, but he's kinda nuts."

Roxunta stared. "Okay then." Roxunta wondered if Demyx was one of the other members he should avoid. But Axel had said that Demyx wasn't into 'carnage and destruction'. So, maybe he should avoid everyone except Demyx?

The rest of the evening was spent simply watching the sunset and enjoying the other's presence. Each Nobody ate their ice-cream slowly to prolong the moment. Every so often Roxunta would steal glances at Axel, but the redhead never noticed. He was staring off into the sunset, though it looked like he was staring at something else altogether.

By the time the sun finally set the two of them had already finished their ice-cream. Axel stood up first and opened the corridor of darkness. Then he helped Roxunta up and pushed him inside.

Axel and Roxunta stepped out of the portal and into the hallway just in front of Roxunta's room. They said their goodnights and slipped into their own rooms.

Inside Roxunta flopped down on top of his bed. He lay quietly for a moment, before realizing that something cold and metallic was biting into his back. He sat up and felt for the object. It was the headband he had been wearing earlier.

"Day one," he mumbled to himself as he lay back down and fell asleep, the headband still clutched in his fist.

* * *

The next day was spent introducing Roxunta to the other organization members that were around. Many of the members were off on missions, but Axel managed to track down and introduce Xigbar, Demyx and Zexion.

Out of all of them, Demyx was, surprisingly enough, the most normal. He seemed rather laid-back, eager to smile and joke and very friendly. Roxunta found it hard to believe that he possessed no heart or emotions. His hair was in a sandy-blonde mullet and his eyes were sea-green.

Xigbar was surprisingly nice as well, but it was quite obvious that he had a sadistic streak when he summoned two unusual looking weapons – Axel later explained to him the concept of guns – and asked Roxunta if he'd like to join him for target practice. Roxunta didn't get that it was his own lame attempt at a joke. Xigbar's hair was weird, mostly black with long gray streaks, tied in a ponytail. He was probably the most unusual looking because of the jagged scar on his left cheek and the eye patch covering his right eye.

The last one, Zexion, was pretty much what one would imagine a heartless being to be like. His face was perfectly composed, eyes calm, rather emotionless. His long(ish) floppy lavender hair covered one eye and, along with the standard Organization XIII uniform, made him look emo, (according to Axel).

On day eight he met Luxord, a blonde man with a beard, pierced ears, and a British accent. He had taught Roxunta to play poker and Number XIII was surprisingly good, despite the fact that Luxord always won. Axel said that he always froze time and then peeked at everyone's cards.

By day eleven Roxunta had met, or at least learned the names and faces of, each member of Organization XIII. He was particularly close to Demyx, Luxord, and, of course, Axel. He made it a habit to avoid Larxene.

On day fourteen Roxunta was assigned his first mission.

"The Superior has a mission for the two of you," Saix said first thing after the two of them stepped into the lobby. "Your task is to investigate the Shinobi Nations."

* * *

Author's Note: Hello my faithful readers (all eleven of you). I apologize for the long wait. I've been a bit busy. I haven't written in quite a while but I still have more to post. Since this chapter is fairly short, and since I've neglected the story for so long, I'm goint to go ahead and post the next chapter as well. Hopefully you still like my writing. Thank you for your kind reviews. Please, continue to review as the story goes on! I'm afraid that I'll lose my motivation to continue if someone doesn't push me!


	4. Chapter IV: The Stranger

**Chapter IV - The Stranger**

"The Shinobi Nations are a group of countries where people use the energy inside their bodies to manipulate elements of nature. Of the countries, there are five main ones named Land of Wind, Land of Earth, Land of Lightning, Land of Water, and Land of Fire," the second-in-command explained. Turning to Roxunta he added, "You were found in the Land of Fire."

Roxunta processed this information a bit before speaking. "You mean I'm going back to my home?"

"This is your home until we regain our hearts. Remember that," Saix answered coldly. "Axel, as you know heartless will be drawn to him due to the keyblade he possesses. I don't know how his element will affect them, but stay near Number XIII at all times, am I clear?"

"Inescapably," Axel replied. "So what's the actual mission?"

"I was told that Roxunta was found in an abandoned village," Saix said. "I want you to investigate the site for heartless, as this is a new world to us and could possibly house new breeds of heartless. You are dismissed."

* * *

Roxunta stepped through the portal and blinked at the harsh sunlight. Though it had only been a few days since he'd been there, he'd grown fast accustomed to the dark and didn't like the sudden change. Besides the bright light it was extremely hot; it hadn't bothered him so much before, but now he was wearing a black, leather cloak with the hood up. He could feel his hair pressed down to the back of his neck.

"You get used to it after a while," Axel said, noting the blonde's discomfort. Roxunta wasn't so sure.

Before leaving Axel had informed Roxunta that it was standard procedure to keep their hoods up at all times when outside the World That Never Was. The Superior didn't want to risk anyone attempting to investigate the organization, which is why they both had their hoods up and drawn mostly closed, revealing only their eyes, in the sweltering heat.

Roxunta regarded the dead scenery around him rather vacantly. He just couldn't imagine anyone, human, heartless or otherwise having been there in a long time.

"In a place like this, it'd be easy to just lie down and take a nap," Axel commented. "I've gotta do something over there real quick. We'll meet up in a bit, okay?"

"I thought the heartless would attack me if I was alone?" Roxunta remembered Superior's warning against them separating.

"It's just for a minute." And like that, Axel was off.

Roxunta sighed and decided he may as well do some exploring. He summoned his keyblade – after all, heartless were liable to attack whether it was out or not and he wanted to be ready – and started off in a random direction.

He had done some exploring before, but he had never gone all that far. The corridor of darkness hadn't opened up far from where he'd woken up in the beginning, but it was farther than he'd been before. The farther he went the more buildings he saw and the closer he got to the center of the destroyed village, the less destroyed it looked.

Still, he saw no people nor bodies nor blood. It seemed strange. Even if this place had been destroyed by heartless, there would still at least be obvious signs of the creatures still lingering around, right? At least, that's how Xemnas had made it sound. That's why they were investigating in the first place.

The heat seemed to be getting worse and worse. Sweat was stinging his eyes and making it hard to see. Seeing as no one was around, Roxunta lowered his hood and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Once they were clear he noticed an interesting bit of scenery. A large mountain hovering above the fallen village, with four visages carved into it.

The first two faces didn't concern him much. They were interesting for sure, but they didn't leave as much of an impression in him as the last three.

Going from right to left, the third face was a man with small eyes and a small goatee. Somewhere in his mind the face became much older and dark brown hair – he didn't know how he knew what color it was meant to be – became silver, and wrinkles appeared around his eyes and across his forehead.

The fourth face bore a striking resemblance to his own. If his own hair was spikier and if he just a bit older they'd be identical. I've met him before, some part of his mind told him. He couldn't recall.

The last face was a woman. Her hair seemed to be long, and probably had been tied back, but it was hard to tell since the back of her head melded into the mountain. Her most striking feature was the diamond-shaped mark on her forehead.

As he took in the three faces a sudden, sharp pain shot through his head. Roxunta grasped his forehead and hissed. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will away the images and the pain. After a few seconds they were gone.

Opening his eyes, Roxunta found that the mountain triggered no more headaches. "That was… really weird."

"NARU-CHAN!"

Roxunta suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest and a body slam into him from behind. He staggered a bit, but managed to keep from falling. The person hugging him relaxed slightly, letting him turn his head, but didn't let go.

The boy – man? – was wearing the strangest ensemble Roxunta could imagine; a black cloak decorated with red clouds and an orange mask with only one eyehole for the right eye, with spiraling lines focusing on that one point. He had short, spiky black hair and his visible eye was midnight black. The stranger was quite a bit taller than Roxunta, so he assumed that he was a grown man, but his behavior seemed… incredibly childlike.

"Who… are you exactly?" Roxunta finally found the voice to say. He couldn't see it, but the stranger pouted under the mask.

"That's not very nice! You don't remember me, Naruto-chan?" he whined. Roxunta shook his head. "I'm Tobi! Tobi is a good boy!"

Roxunta stared at this 'Tobi' for a moment. He didn't exactly trust the childish man, but he couldn't think of a reason why. He was… odd, sure, but he didn't seem particularly dangerous. Then it occurred to him; Tobi had called him Naruto.

"My name isn't Naruto. It's Roxunta."

Tobi stared at Roxunta silently for a moment, seemingly dropping the childish attitude. For a second, Roxunta considered it may have been a game or an act, but no sooner than he thought that did Tobi whine and say, "I don't like Roxunta-chan very much, Naruto-chan sounds better."

'_What does 'chan' even mean_?' Roxunta asked himself.

"Roxu-chan doesn't sound very good either," Tobi mumbled to himself, releasing Roxunta and donning a fake thoughtful pose. "Roxy- Rox- Roxun- Un- Unta- Rox- Rok- Roku-" Suddenly he snapped his fingers. "I've got it! You can be Roku-chan!"

"Um… okay then…" Poor Roxunta was feeling more and more confused.

"So, why'd you change your name, Roku-chan?" Tobi asked, wrapping his arms around Roxunta affectionately.

"Um, I didn't," Roxunta said as he tried, and failed, to remove Tobi.

"What are you doing here?"

"Um-"

"What's with the new outfit?"

"I-"

"Where'd your whiskers go?"

"Wha-?"

"Where'd you get that key?"

"HEY ROXUNTA!"

Tobi released Roxunta, apparently surprised by Axel's voice calling out so suddenly. Roxunta turned around to see the pyro walking towards him.

"Hey, sorry for taking so long," Axel apologized, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"What were you doing?"

"I had to find the little Nobody's room." Roxunta sweat dropped.

"Shouldn't you have done that before we left?" he asked.

"Well I didn't have to go then," Axel said, shrugging. "Anyway, find anything interesting?"

"Ah no, I was just talking to-" Roxunta turned to point at Tobi only to find the masked man had disappeared. He gasped and turned around completely, looking for any sign of him, but Tobi had seemingly vanished into thin air.

Axel also looked around in confusion. He didn't see anyone else. "…Talking to who?"

Roxunta blinked and shook his head. Maybe he was just imagining things. "…Never mind."

"Well, this mission seems like a total bust," Axel yawned. "Hey, since Superior's not expecting us back for a couple of hours, wanna go get some sea-salt ice-cream?"

Roxunta smiled and nodded. Axel opened the portal and the two Nobodies disappeared through, Roxunta completely forgetting about the stranger.

* * *

That night Roxunta had a nightmare for the first time since the first day. Again, he stood in another person's place, with their thoughts and feelings replacing his own. He stood in the middle of a dome of what looked like mirrors. The air around him was biting cold and a mist covered the area, so he couldn't see anything beyond the mirrors.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain hit his body. He turned, saw something disappear from the corner of his eye, and then another pain hit him in the side.

He looked down to see thin needles piercing his clothing – a thick, orange jacket.

The fight continued on for a while. Roxunta regarded another person in the middle of the mirrors with him, but he was too busy trying to locate his attacker to pay them much mind. As the fight progressed he became weaker and weaker and found himself making a last, desperate effort to strike his foe. He was thrown to the ground, frozen and injured.

There was a sudden cry and suddenly the smell of blood assaulted his nose. He somehow found the strength to push himself up and look. His vision was blurry at first; he had to blink a few times before the sight of the enemy, fallen, came into view.

"Dobe…" a shaky voice said. "You always… get in the way."

The words didn't process right away; he was still struck with the sight of the enemy. When they did his weariness seemed to melt away, replaced by elation.

"You did it Sasuke…!" All at once, he noticed something wrong. There was something wrong with Sasuke's voice. And his skin seemed too pale…

Then he saw it, the blood… the needles… Sasuke had thrown himself in front of the enemy's attack; an attack aimed to kill.

Sasuke turned his head, giving Roxunta a view of the blood trickling down from the corner of his mouth. Noticing the look the other boy was giving him, Sasuke said, "Look at yourself… usuratonkachi."

"Why?" Roxunta found himself saying. "Why did you protect me?"

"Who knows…" Sasuke answered. He fell silent for a moment, and then his shoulders slumped. "I used to hate you."

Roxunta forced himself to stand. Adrenaline and fear replaced fatigue completely. "Then why did you protect me!"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO!"

"Who knows…?" Sasuke said again. "My body acted on its own."

As soon as the last word left his mouth the last of his strength also left him and Sasuke fell backwards. Then Roxunta's body acted of its own accord and he jumped forward to catch him.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke's eyes began to grow dull, but he wasn't done talking.

"That man…" the onyx-eyed boy whispered harshly. "I didn't want to die until I had killed my brother. You…" Sasuke raised his arm and placed his hand on Roxunta's chest. "Don't die."

That was it. His arm fell and his body grew limp. Roxunta felt something inside of him break as Sasuke closed his eyes for what seemed like the last time.

Roxunta woke with a start, trembling. Like the first time, rivers of tears streamed down his face.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, I guess this chapter isn't much longer than the last one. Actually, it's shorter. Sorry 'bout that. Hopefully you'll forgive the shortness. I have about three more chapters already typed up, but I'm going to wait a while before I post those ones. Maybe edit them a bit. Make them longer. One thing that bothers me about my writing is that it seems longer when I'm actually writing it than it does when I reread it. Ah, I'm starting to babble. Enjoy the new chapters.


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